Arranging the Funeral Pyre For the Neoconservative Movement

After all the neocon's die, what happens next?

By Justin Hartfield

At some point in the very near future, the neoconservative moment will cease to exist and conservatism as we know it today will be relegated to the political fringe. The movement's ultimate demise isn't due to its inherent flaws, however (although it has many), but rather from Mother Nature's less poetic spouse, Father Time. The neoconservative moment is going to die of old age within the next quarter century. This is inevitable (and its not like Mr. Rove and Mr. Cheney are in great shape either).

So the question now becomes, what takes over as the main rival to American liberalism? What rises from the ashes of the Bush Doctrine?

The answer to these questions can be found with a quick appraisal of the political ideals of this country's emerging power player, Generation Y. And luckily (for the future of the country and pro-freedom think tanks alike), Generation Y is resoundingly libertarian.

Generation Y, of which the staff of the Prometheus Institute all belong to, has decidedly less interest in upholding the morality of our parents and rather prefers to uphold the freedom for both the saintly and the morally bankrupt to have their own beliefs. We simply have less hang ups than our parents, and we are more prone to admit our mistakes and actually learn from them than the previous generation.

In addition, Gen. Y is also much more environmentally conscious than the current generation in power and is less prone to waste, both ecologically and practically. We are also the most technologically savvy generation, as we've all grown up using computers (and unnecessarily complicated mobile phones).

Libertarianism is fated to become the next big movement in politics. Ron Paul didn't get it done in 2008. And he probably won't get it done in 2012 either. But I've got my fingers crossed that a libertarian candidate will have a legitimate shot in 2016 (running under the Republican party banner of course).

In less than a hundred years, our grandchildren will be debating about the merits of privatizing or eliminating government agencies, which would be unthinkable in the present-day political reality. No doubt on some dimension our Founding Fathers would be teeming with pride.

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